George jackson



GEORGE JACKSON, OF (JOI-ICES,` NEW YORK.

e KNITTING-MACHINE. n

Specification of Letters Patent No..11`,554, dated August 22, 1854. i

To lZZfwzom it may concern Be it` known that I, GEORGE JACKSON, of

Cohoes, in the county "of Albany and State.

of' New York, have invented new and `Improved Apparatus for the Construction and Operationof Warp Knitting-Looms; and I declare `the following specification, with the drawings hereto attached as part of the same, to be a full `and. perfect description thereof.

Figure l represents a perspectiveview of the machine, a portion of the presser bar be-` ing `removed to show the needle bar and needles behind it. Fig. 2f is a section showing;

the construction and arrangement of" the sinkers bar, the presser bar, the needlebar and the thread carrier bar, with `the sinkers, pressers and thread carriers. Fig. 34and 5 show the forms of the cams on the shaft of the machine.

`Similar letters in the differentY drawings denote the same partsof the. apparatus.

The machine is a rectangular frame in the usual form of the knitting loom, as shown in` Fig.` IAAAA; Attachedto the inner faces of the front legs or supports are two guides w, w, intended to receive and direct the vertical movement of the frame Z whichycarries the sinker and presser bars. This frame is made of two loops or clamps within which the ends of the pressure bar C and sinker bar C2 pass and operate; the bar C2 being fastened at the bottom of eachloop and C being movable and adjustable, as to its distance from C2 by the screws RR passing through" the tops of the loops. Directly behindthe bar G2 with its upper surface raised somewhat above theupper surface of C2` is the needle bar D extending across the frame, which has a forward and backward motion within horizontal guides attached to the upper bars of the frame work of' themachine. These bars (so called) are rectangular metal bars or rods to which are attached certain parts of the apparatus, which gives name to the bar itself, to wit;` the bar C has at tached to it and hanging down, `a series of small oblong blocks b, 5, slightly separated from each other, their lower edges, which range horizontally with each other, being rounded from front to rear to fit them for their duty, which is to `press down the needle-barbs "as hereinafter1 described hence called the pressers, and their support the presser bar. The bar C2 has attachedto and rising from it, the sinkers (so called) `which are small blocks CZ, CZ, equal in thickness of face to thepressers, and placed opposite to them, carrying between each pair of blocks, a sinker which is, a thin slip of metal o having two` teeth in the front upperedge as shown in Fig. 2 the upper tooth 0 being slightly acute, the other 2, being hook shaped. The upper edge of these slips pass up, into the presser bar between the blocks,

where they have a liberty of motion as the l block C is screwed` up or down.

. The bar D hasattachedto its` upper surface a series of needles e, e, which project forward horizontally one, between each sinker.. These needles have a barb in their upper edge, being of the` kind well known,

and used onall knitting machines. .Close in i `front of and in range with the needles is the thread-carrier bar. This is a rod or bar X whoseends pass through sockets in brackets EE attached to the side of themachine. This rod has, attached to it at certain` inter-` vals, depending upon the nature of thefabric to be'knit, metal sockets or guides t, t, called the thread-carriers shaped as shown in the drawings, `being a sort of tubes,

through which the threads, used in the` work pass from spoolsuS, and` are directed along and betweenthe needles during theknitting process. In order to direct the movement of the carrier the rod has a horizontal sliding -1notion, also a rocking motion on its axis.

The spools S, required to hold the thread `may be placedlin any convenient position, to `supply each carrier, a convenient arrange- `ment 1s shown 1n` Fig. 1 where one spool 1s shown in place.

. The` necessary movements are given to the `different parts of the machine by the following apparatus. The wheel O is driven by belt or gearing from the main shaft of the factory. Near theextremity `ofits axle G it has twocam wheels H, H. On the outer face of each wheel a grove orslot-track cam `(whose form is shown inlilig.` 3) is made, into whose grooves operate the ends of lev-" ers 7L, It, bywhich the needle bar D is moved back or forth. On the inner face of each wheel is a cam whose form is shownat Fig.`

4 and which operates upon a lever I passing under the lead `and sinker framel and by which it is raised, the frame falling `by its own weight. The sliding `and rocking mo tion of the thread-carrier bar isproduced thus: The rocking motion, by a slot track cam on the inner face of wheel` O, (whose form is shown in Fig. 5)` operating on the end of lever V pivoted on the crank u. The

sliding movement is produced by a cam y which projects from the inner face of a wheel M, its elevations and depressions from the face of the wheel, being arranged to produce the needful movements of the thread carriers in correspondence with the movements of the other parts ofthe knitting apparatus. A spring P keeps the rod steadily pressed against the cam y. The movement ofwheel M is produced by its gearing into a pinion wheel N on the outer end of shaft Gr.

The process of knitting by the machine is as follows: The apparatus being placed in such point of its movements, vthat the thread-carriers are on the extreme right hand of their course and ranging above the line of needles. The wheel O is set in motion when the thread carrier moves to the i left past three needles and then drops down below their range, the thread being laid over the needles by this operation. The pressers and sinkers now descend and simultaneously the needles draw back, by which the thread is passed under the barbs of the needles, the front teeth of the sinkers drawing the thread downward, to give the proper length of stitch, while the pressers close the needlebarbs. The needles continuevto recede the thread being pressed forward by the sinkers, until it reaches the end of the needle; then the sinkers and pressers rise, so as to permit the back teeth of the sinkers to rise over the stitch, the sinkers andpressers then descend ,the needles coming forward at the same time, by which each stitch is carried by a back tooth, back of the needle barbs at the same time the carriers descend taking the thread below the line of the needles, move past one needle to the left, and then rise again above the range of needles, carrying the thread around the needles and making a stitch; at the same time the sinkers and pressers rise. The sinkers and pressers now stand still, while the thread-carriers move to the right over three needles, when the carrier drops down, and operations similarprecisely to those described take place, to wit: rIhe sinkers drop down, the thread passes under the needle barbs, the needles draw back, the pressers hold the barbs closed lwhile the sinkers press the stitch, formed by the previous movements, over the ends of the needles and drop them over the threads or stitches which lie under the barbs. The sinkers and pressers then rise, the needles come forward, the last made stitches are carried back of the barbs, t-he first stitches hanging down from them and forming the commencement of the cloth. The carriers descend, carry the thread to the right under a needle, then with the sinkers and pressers rise to the position from which the machine first start-ed. These operations are repeated till the work is completed.

It will be seen, that as the thread is carried, first over three needles to the left, and

three stitches made, then under one needle Vneedle farther to the right and another stitch made; a chain or loop Astitch will occur at every change of motion of the threadcarrier from right to left, or left to rightthis stitch forms a rib in the fabric.

The difference between my machine, and existing machines, Vand its advantages over them, I consider to be, as follows. In all warp knitting machines now used, each needle requires its separate thread, and in order to make ribbed or fancy work two sets or tiers of needles with their threadcarriers are required, each set having distinct and different movements, and being operated by their own separate wheels, cams, and levers. My machine requires but one set 4of needles by which ribbed and fancy work may be executed in every variety of style, simply by changing the form of the cam y that shifts the thread carrier to the right and left so as to move the thread over and under a greater or less number of needles `at each separate movement, combined with a change in the proportions of the wheels N and M, which regulates the movement of the pressers, sinkers, and needles. In the ordinary machine to change the character of the fabric, requires almost an entire change in all the arrangement-s'for the movements of the machine.

In the present warp knitting machines the sinkers and pressers operate distinctly and separately from each other, and require distinct arrangements of the apparatus to drive them. In my machine the sinkers and pressers operate together, being in one frame. Also in those machines using as they do a separate thread to each needle, 'it becomes necessary to rewind the yarn from the y spinning jacks (spools) upon a beam asplong as the rangev of needles, from which beam thethreads are taken to each carrier; this rewinding is called warping the yarn.

In my machine the spools are placed at once on the loom, and the threads taken from them to the carriers.

I claim- The arrangement and combinationiof the pressers b b and sinkers 0 0 in the frame Z in the manner substantially as described; whereby the pressers and sinkers move together and can be adjusted at such a distance apart as may be requisite to graduate the size of the stitches as required.

' GEORGE JACKSON.

Witnesses:

FRANK DE WITT, JAMES B. LANDERs. 

